Lara felt the hairs on her neck stand up as an ominous, eerie feeling washed over her, she barely missed the swift plunge of the viper from the smoking crater into the skin of Gavin’s shoulder. While she had to regain her footing she could hardly conceal the gleeful chuckle slipping through her lips at the sight of crimson blood spilling over the viper’s painful stab. Lara saw the brief tug of Alyssa’s palm to her right, she saw the blonde’s intent gaze on the two men and another wooden chair drifting afloat from the hole Shawn left in the bigger tent.
“You fucking bitch!”, Lara wiped her hair from her face and threw the weight nuzzled in her small figure at Alyssa. It wasn’t ineffective but it wasn’t exactly the smartest option either. Nevertheless, they tumbled to the floor in a harsh thud. Lara struggled to occupy Alyssa’s palm in fear she might intervene with Shawn’s painful assault on Gavin. A glance over her shoulder spared her a moment’s worth of Shawn’s horrifying scars from Gavin’s onslaught, she saw the flimsy piece of skin dangling from the sharp bones of his face and the blood drenching his chest. It threw her off long enough for Alyssa to kick a knee into her gut, it left Lara breathless and clumsily stumbling back to regain her hold over her heavy breathing.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay down? You ungrateful little pest”, Lara glared at the almost charming grin set on Alyssa’s features before she turned to gasp at the blood curling scream Shawn emitted. There was a quick punch to her cheek and she felt the almost immediate dull throb of a coming bruise, the wind brewing in the air from Gavin’s wings were enough to stun both woman if only to watch the whole chaotic dilemma unfold.
Lara glanced at the blonde for a quick second wondering whether she was an Omega as well, fucking bitch fought like one. Still, there was nothing Lara could do against Gavin and by the looks of it she couldn’t do much more to Alyssa than a punch here and there. She didn’t have corpses at her disposal, no ghosts lingered in the air even if she couldn’t do jack shit with them but she was about as useful as a human would be.
Lara supposed the stiff grace in Alyssa’s stance was a premature gloat at Gavin’s powerful shift and Lara took advantage the brief moment of pride and blatant triumph, reached out to grasp the wooden frame of the chair and slammed it onto Alyssa’s back. The immortal stumbled with a dirty glare before turning to face the annoying pest, Lara felt the gloomy presence of death wash over her and for a second she thought it was a uniquely strange premonition of her own death. Alas, she looked up to see the horrible sight of a viper tearing Ladania’s heart through the gaping hole in her chest.
The momentary duel between the two woman shut to a halt as both stared at the frozen horror planted on the young girl’s face. Lara grasped her temples with a low hiss, she could hear the voices of the spirits forever haunting her soul welcome the addition of a new, innocent soul among their restless endeavors. She turned to see the dark haired girl by her side, the ethereal glint to her skin awfully obvious. Lara returned the smile for a brief moment at the sad words drifting through her dead lips. She looked up to see the gleeful aftermath of everything that drew pain and suffering dissipated into trails of smoke and empty nothingness.
Lara sprinted to Shawn’s side, she felt the harsh impact of ground against her knees as she fell down beside him to hold his mangled face in her palms. The feeling of seeing his blood on her fingers was more than horrible, she hated every single second. “You have nothing to say sorry for. You should take us back, it’s the only place you’ll heal – you’re not dying on me yet”, she spared the ghostly visage of Ladainia a determined glance, there was no way she’d let him die – not now and nowhere in a fucked up future rattled with war and despair. She never thought they’d go back but she’d trudge there again and again if it was for him. this time, she didn’t fear it as much – she had faith that Shawn was more than capable of keeping those dark demons at bay.
Alyssa watched the girl stand between the men with disdain, young love was a beautiful thing but more than that, it was brutal and had the potential to add a little more joy to an otherwise bland world or start war in the name of a single feeling humans were driven to find, mutants too. The last thing she expected was the onslaught of the silver haired mutant’s to Gavin’s shoulder, out of instinct she lifted her slender palm to the air before willing the wooden frame of a chair to her disposal, the weight of Lara’s shoulder to her stomach was a unique surprise for the immortal. She didn’t give the girl enough credit, she was about as useful as a fly on the wall but she had balls. That in itself was almost refreshing.
Alyssa watched horror shift over the girl’s pale features at the sight of Shawn’s mutilated face from the impact of the blast. She felt the tug of a proud smirk set over her lips before willing the hard prominence of her knee into Lara’s gut. She stood to her feet with a flattering grace, looked to the young mutant and uttered the words in a charming tone laced with venom, “Didn’t I tell you to stay down? You ungrateful little pest!’
‘fighting’s so boring these days, swords and spears, now those were the good old days’, the thought echoed in Alyssa’s ancient mind as another opportune moment invaded her senses. Focus, the one thing Lara severely lacked cost her another heavy blow to the cheek. Alyssa had respect for those who carried the striking traits of a warrior but this girl lacked the one thing no warrior could thrive without. The words uttered from Gavin’s proud speech left Alyssa with a proud grin on her lips. She ignored the pest for a second to bathe in the furious winds from Gavin’s wings, his power always had her weak in the knees.
The sight of Ladainia’s heart being devoured left a painful gasp slipping through her lips, she felt the tug of her legs to sprint to the young girl’s side and wipe away the horror stricken scream etched on her young face but instead the world shifted in an almost hallucinogenic touch.
There was a harsh tug at her skin, an almost sizzling headache to her mind and everything shifted in and out of darkness. She shut her eyes for a brief moment in time hoping to open them to a steady sight and ground that didn’t feel nonexistent beneath her feet. Opening those lids she saw nothing but pure and awful darkness. “Gavin!”, she couldn’t see him but she felt the warm presence of someone by her side, a thousand years of darkness could haunt her but she’d still know Gavin’s soul.
She didn’t care too think about their newfound environment, instead she fell to her knees and engulfed his shoulders in a warm hug. “I’m so sorry. I should have pulled her out of there, I was too late”, she didn’t care who was truly at fault for the collateral, she wanted blood for the loss they suffered. Ladainia was a sweet girl who reminded the immortal of pure innocence and childlike wonder, she didn’t deserve to lose her heart at the serpent’s teeth.
A touch of life breathed against his skin on the soft wind. His hair turned back to it's usual silverr. Blowing lighly in his face strands of Lara's hair as she leaned ovhim. He coughed and blood bubbled up from within. He rolled to his side just to relief the pressure building up in his chest and blood trickled down. Connecting a string of crimson from his lip to the dirt. His eyes dulled over as he tried to push himself to his feet. He didn't know if he had enough left in him to open a passage to the dark lands.
"So much for an easy job." He laughed. The chuckle sent waves of pain crashing throug his body and he grunted and squeezed his eyes tightly. WIth some help he was able to push his way to his feet. His ankle got twisted somewhere along the way and he limped a little trying to find his balance. Shawn looked around at the empty parking lot. He could hear voices inside his head. "Gavin! I'm so sorry I should have pulled her out of there I was too late." Gavin and Alyssa were trapped inisde his head and he could hear their voices echoing inside his skull. It was almost enough to drive him fucking nuts. Switch places. He thought.
He didn't want them in his head a moment longer. That sickness and evil that poured out of them was making the dark lands stronger every second they were there. Shawn didn't know the inner workings of his own abilities. Not fully. He knew everything there was about the sunken place. The land of shadow. That was his domain and he basked in the silent grey washed sky like a fucking king. He loved it there. No noise. No fucking worries. Only him and his inner thoguhts.
But the dark lands were scary. The dark lands was something he didn't have a fucking handle on. Trapping people in the dark lands was cruel and torturous, but keeping someone there as evil as Gavin and Alyssa fuck face? That darkness only fueled the dark lands. Made it thrive. Evil washed off those two like a fucking cloud and Shawn could feel himself getting angrier by the second. Not because he was angry but because the darkness in his head was flooding his mind. He was taking on the will and the thoughts of Gavin and Alyssa. A fragement of their personality bled into his subconsious and it was ugly. Even a fraction of Gavin and Alyssa, was more than he wanted to take on.
The words dripped through his mind like a cancer. He was torn up with the guilt. Looking at the empty parking lot he saw Ladainia's body lying there in the center of the nothingness. Her body didn't move though her hair flapped in the wind. It was almost poetic. As if it was a visual representation of her soul leaving her body or some shit. Shawn didn't want to look at it. He wanted to turn away and deny that he had killed a girl so young. Shawn had killed many people in his life.
He was never a fan of killing women. Especially when he never did shit to him. He wondered quietly if she was part of the sickness spreading through the circus like a gangrenous cancer of if she was just collateral damage. For a moment the haunting image burning into his mind was almost enough to take his mind off the pain in his face, his body pretty much fucking everywhere. Shawn focused hard. His face shook with intensity and his nose stared to bleed as his eyes went white once more. His hair caught fire in that ghostly white and a split opened up in the crack of the pavement. Ripping and bending light as it moved upwards a portal to the dark lands stood before them. He didn't want to go back.
"What the heck is that?" He heard Gavin's voice say inside his head, and right in front of him on the other side of the portal. Shawn stumbled a bit. His weigh fell on the shoulders of Lara who was his rock right now. "I can see light!" He heard Gavin say. "COme the fuck out!" Gavin demanded. He stood there in front of the portal as just a man. No slithery vipers to help him battle the god like power of a far superior mutant. Just him. Shawn could trap Gavin but one on one he was never going to kill him.
Shawn knew that, hell the fucking sky knew it. Shawn was barely able to stand on his feet as he watched Gavin and Alyssa step through the portal. Gavin was confused and looking around in silent wonder. As they stepped out Shawn felt a pressure in his temples shift and the pain in his head began to fade. He gasped with relief and shifted his weight. He was trying to remain on his feet. Gavin's face scrunched up in curiosity. "Where were we just now?" He asked.
The hint of his voice riding that familiar southern accent. "Dark lands." Shawn said trying to catch his breathe. One eye only saw in the color red from all the blood that had stained it. It was like a river flowing down one side of his face. "The Dark Lands you say? What's that?" Shawn smirked with considerable effort. " A place that consumes wickedness." He continued speaking in short choppy sentences. Gavin nodded. "I see. And you let us out why?" He was so curious.
Shawn just wanted him to fly off. "If you'd like, I could shove your ass back in." Gavin raised a hand. "No, you don't have to do that son." He said. "I'm sorry about the girl. I was only after you." Shawn said adjusting his arm around Lara's neck. His eyes were on the floor and though it hurt like fuck to raise his head he forced himself too to look the man in the eye. "She was never supposed to die. I don't fucking kill women! She got in the way and I'm sorry. That's why I let you out." Gavin grew quiet as he turned to see the image of the mutant he once kidnapped and pretended to love. He lowered his head. His eyes squint.
"Fair enough. She was my daughter." Gavin said his tone was flat. "I suggest you get out of my sight because I'm not as merciful as you'ins." Gavin looked back at Ladainia. And he felt very little. Slowly he walked over to her as Alyssa followed a few steps behidn him. They moved off to the right as Shawn and Lara watched carefully and limped towards the dark lands portal. Gavin stopped moving a good five feet away from Ladainia's body. He didn't turn around but he spoke to Shawn directly. "I'll be seeing you real soon killer." Gavin had glared back slightly over his shoulder without turning his head much as his threat left his lips his eyes moved back to Ladainia's limp form. His fingers laced into Alyssa's and he thought about the fragile nature of life.
One minute you're there the next you're gone. Shawn and Lara moved through the portal and it disappeared behind them. Leaving Gavin and his gal alone with their dead daughter. On the other side of the portal Shawn found a tree at the edge of the parking lot. He allowed his body to fall against it and rest. He cold already feel the dark energy latching onto his skin and eating away at his wounds. He could feel the crash of relief as his face started putting itself back togheter. The dark energy little creatures that crawled on him nad heal him last time were here and crawling up his body. He welcomed it. He was just ready for the pain to stop.
Last Edit: Jun 8, 2018 17:44:35 GMT by Silver Shadow
Lara’s face grew pale at the sight of the blood drowning Shawn, she hated seeing the crimson stain of a hellish encounter he didn’t deserve but she was powerless to heal the open wounds or drown out the excruciating pain. “you can say that again”, she found herself smiling at the sound of his laugh, at least the tormenting aftermath of the fight didn’t kill his spirit. She leaned over and helped him to his feet with a soft grunt, Lara wasn’t ever known for her strength but the adrenaline still tainting her blood was a big enough jolt to fortify the shaking numbness in her legs.
A dark look passed over his features and she wondered what was raging in his mind, what thoughts induced the worrisome tension obvious in his shoulders and the dark tint to his gaze. Still, she didn’t pester him for answers to questions she didn’t have the energy to ask. She could still feel the awful presence of Ladainia’s spirit hanging in the back of her mind, she was more prominent than the dull voices bouncing off the borders of her mind. The echoes of ghostly voices was almost unbearable but she shook it off as nothing more than pain and exhaustion easily overpowered by the extent of her mutational abilities.
Lara’s fingers held onto him with every ounce of strength as she saw the white wash over his gaze and the hellishly dark blood ooze out of his nose. She anchored her feet to the pavement with as much balance she could muster as the crack blending into that dark realm bled through the reality in front of them. She felt the blood littering his chest blend into the soft, tattered fabric of her shirt but she didn’t mind. Not when she still had faith he’d get through this, some way or another he’d survive Gavin’s onslaught.
She could hear the loud voices bleeding through, the dread filling her mind was enough to recognize Gavin’s tone. She found herself glaring at the couple as they stepped through the rippling darkness and rejoined the reality of the world Lara and Shawn still occupied. Lara kept quiet, she didn’t feel the true need to interject in the conversation, partly because she didn’t have the energy to argue with someone she considered the front runner for the world’s biggest dick.
At the mention of Ladainia she found herself glancing over her shoulder at the ghostly visage, “Don’t be sorry”, she lifted her chin to look at Shawn, “she’s free now, not shackled too your insanity”. Lara spared Gavin a dirty glare at the last of her words, she wasn’t sure how he kept the young girl trapped to his useless theatrics but she was a strong believer that it was wrong and inhumane to sacrifice one person’s freedom for some insane goal that probably bled into revenge and cruelty.
Lara set one foot in front of the other as she helped Shawn stumbled through the dark gap in reality. She hated that place with more passion than she ever hated anything else but she’d happily trudge those dark slithers of hopelessness for the man she loved. The world shifted almost instantaneously and she felt the heavy touch of darkness ensnare them. This time though, she didn’t fear the unknown with Shawn’s touch by her side.
She slowed into a low crouch and helped him ease down against the dark, rough bark of a tree before lowering herself onto the misty floor next to him. Lara watched with intrigue as the darkness slowly healed the broken skin and gaping wounds littering his skin. She reached out to lace her fingers through his and leaned back against the tree with a slow sigh.
“Please promise me something?”, she turned her head slowly with a serious look etched on her features, “just promise we can take a fucking shower after this”. Her lips parted for a soft, bittersweet laugh as she welcomed the warmth of his body by her side. Even then the darkness was drowned out by his presence alone.
“I love you Shawn”, the words left a warm feeling spreading through her mind like wildfire, partly because of the pure meaning behind her tone and somewhat because of fear. She was afraid to some degree that he’d reject her sentiments but she braved saying the words nonetheless. Lara meant every single syllable, she was hardly even sure how this all started between them but she loved him, everything about him both good and bad. Lara just fucking loved him, it made her feel alive even after years of spending time talking to the dead.
